Noether symmetry in f (T) theory

As is well known, symmetry plays an important role in the theoretical physics. In particular, the well-known Noether symmetry is an useful tool to select models motivated at a fundamental level, and find the exact solution to the given Lagrangian. In the present work, we try to consider Noether symmetry in f (T) theory. At first, we briefly discuss the Lagrangian formalism of f (T) theory. In particular, the point-like Lagrangian is explicitly constructed. Based on this Lagrangian, the explicit form of f(T) theory and the corresponding exact solution are found by requiring Noether symmetry. In the resulting f (T) = mu T-n theory, the universe experiences a power-law expansion a(t) similar to t(2n/3), Furthermore, we consider the physical quantities corresponding to the exact solution, and find that if n > 3/2 the expansion of our universe can be accelerated without invoking dark energy. Also, we test the exact solution of this f(T) theory with the latest Union2 Type la Supernovae (SNIa) dataset which consists of 557 SNIa, and find that it can be well consistent with the observational data in fact. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.